By JED LOCKETT
BLUEFIELD — Ashley Hogan compiled 14 kills, two aces and two blocks and Pitt-Johnstown got the win they needed to make the WVIAC tournament, easily handling Bluefield State 25-21, 25-8, 25-5 Saturday at Ned Shott Gymnasium.
“We needed Concord last night and today and fortunately we were successful ...,” said Pitt-Johnstown head coach Linda Renzi.
“They have a tendency to play down to their competition,” said dejected Bluefield State head coach Katherine Ward. “They play teams like Mountain State and other teams at a higher level of play and momentum and they do better. Then they play teams that have a slow pace and act like they don’t really care and they play down to that.”
The Lady Blues fought in the first game, taking an early lead and keeping it until the opener’s later stages. But the Mountain Cats adjusted and made a four-point run to take a 17-16 lead. That adjustment was all they needed to pull away.
“(Bluefield State) did an excellent job and they have an outstanding coach without a doubt,” Renzi said. “What I did when I called the time out was to change the blocking and I needed to put more emphasis on that than anything else that we were doing.”
The turning point of the match came in the second game. Pitt-Johnstown made a 14-point run to turn a 6-6 tie into a 25-8 blowout.
“In that particular segment, what we did was we were using some one balls (passes to the middle hitter) and we were also capitalizing on some 31s and 32s — it’s a lower set for the outside,” Renzi said.
“When you play teams that’ll hit at you, you can’t be scared to hit at other teams,” Ward said. “That seemed to be the problem today. When you play this game, you can’t be worried about the mistakes you’re going to make. You have to make a decision and go for it and unfortunately we’re more worried about making an error than playing the game.”
Hogan stepped up during that game, making six kills and two blocks.
“She did an outstanding job,” Renzi said. “She communicated well on the court. She’s a definite leader on the court and she just worked extremely well in the second and third game especially.”
Nicole Houser added a stellar performance of her own with 10 kills and a pair of blocks.
“She runs a really nice backslide and we also have a play on the outside where when Nicole is in a fourth position that we run the middle through and Nicole will tandem with her,” Renzi said.
Pitt-Johnstown (11-16, 4-10) is in the tournament. Now they will begin preparations to try to advance.
Renzi said her team will work on, “Everything, everything, work on everything, break down the skills as when we first started and always go back to fundamentals working with them.”
Bluefield State (3-15, 1-13) now moves into the offseason. Ward will focus heavily on recruiting with the hope of bringing in more young talent to continue to improve the program.
“I’m still trying to build the team. I can only bring in so many at once and so many per year,” Ward said. “And this next year we’re looking to bring in some girls that pick up the pace. Hopefully I’ll bring in some transfers that have played at higher levels and also some new freshmen and just pick up the morale of the team and set an example of where this team needs to be at to continue to play in the conference.”
— Contact Jed Lockett
at jlockett@bdtonline.com
